Lipscomb 0

#20 Ohio State 3

Volleyball runs out of gas, falls in straight sets to No. 20 Ohio State

Saturday, September 2, 2017
By Kirk Downs

Lipscomb
(4-2)
at
#20 Ohio State
(4-2)
|
September 02, 2017

LIP

Team Stats

OSU

.055

Hitting Pct.

.324

34

Kills

44

27

Errors

10

127

Total Attacks

105

33

Assists

42

6

Aces

1

44

Digs

57

3.0

Blocks

16.0

LIP

Leaders

OSU

NUSBAUM
- 14

Kills

Appold
- 18

ELMORE
- 17

Assists

Hughes
- 32

ANDERSON
- 3

Aces

Gruensfelder
- 1

THOMAS
- 12

Digs

Appold
- 14

ROGERS
- 2

Blocks

Smeathers
- 8

COLUMBUS, Ohio – After battling through two five-set matches in less than 24 hours, the Lipscomb volleyball team simply did not have its best stuff Saturday night as the No. 20 Ohio State Buckeyes swept the Bisons in straight sets to close out the D.C. Koehl Classic.

Ohio State won 25-19, 27-25 and 25-15.

“If there is a take away from tonight, it’s that I thought the mental fatigue got to us,” Lipscomb head coach Brandon Rosenthal said. “That’s something I am glad we are learning tonight, because we have to get better at it. It’s not just the players, it’s the coaches as well.

“But all in all it’s fun to have disappointment after going 2-1 in a tournament that had as strong a field as it did. That means we are doing the right things. This was a huge weekend for us and I continue to be impressed by our girls every day.”

The opening set belonged to Ohio State from the get go, eventually building a 10-point lead before the Bisons were able to put together a late rally. The Buckeyes, however, came away with the final three points after Lipscomb pulled to within three.

Lipscomb responded with a quick start 6-1 start in the second before Ohio State began chipping away at the deficit. The teams pulled even 13 times and traded the lead five times, but it was the Bisons who found themselves with a set point after back-to-back kills from Maddie Phillips and Carlyle Nusbaum. Unfortunately behind a .333 hitting percentage the Bisons could not stave off the Buckeyes. The home team recorded kills on five of the last six points to squeeze out the victory and go into the locker room up 2-0.

The third and final set went a lot like the first with Ohio State leading every point but one. Lipscomb hit -.088 and committed nine errors in the frame.

With the loss the Bisons fall to 4-2 on the year and the Buckeyes improve to 4-2.

“We have all the talent in the world to play with anyone in the country,” Rosenthal said. “We have a saying in our locker room, ‘the only thing you deserve is what you earn’. We earned those first two wins this weekend, but tonight Ohio State was the better team.”

Nusbaum was named to the all-tournament team.

QUICK HITS:

The Bisons are now 0-3 all-time against Ohio State.

Nusbaum paced Lipscomb with 14 kills, followed by Phillips with seven.

Brittany Thomas led the team with 12 digs.

Setters Morgan Elmore and Marcella Emmanuelli recorded season lows in assists with 17 and 12, respectively.

Lipscomb hit a season low .055 while OSU swung .324.

UP NEXT:

The Bisons have a quick turnaround with a trip to Madison, Wisconsin on the docket next week for the HotelRed Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin. Lipscomb will play the No. 6 Wisconsin Badgers at 7 p.m. on Thursday before matching up with Texas A&M at 6 p.m. Friday.

“We will take off tomorrow after getting home in the early morning hours and get back to work on Monday,” Rosenthal said. “We have a short week before getting another awesome opportunity to play two great teams in Wisconsin. What we saw tonight atmosphere wise will only be doubled or tripled up there, but that wil help us down the road.

“These girls aren’t afraid to play the best competition out there and I can’t say enough about that. In recruiting, a lot of teams talk about finding the best player, but what we do is find the right players. Each one of these girls are here for a reason.”